department are issuing and discussing whether a special counsel should be appointed in a hunter biden investigation. it comes as we learn a lot more about overseas business dealings by the president-elect s son that may be in the present rather than past tense i m leland vittert. i m julie banderas. the special counsel discussions are coming after former attorney general bill barr said he would not appoint one in his final days as attorney general. business records show hunter biden still holding a 10% stake in a chinese private equity firm less than one month before his father is set to be sworn in as president. fox team coverage for you this thursday morning. byron york joins us with more in a moment but we begin with jackie heinrich. good morning, to you. how likely is this to happen? good morning to you, julie. it is yet to be seen. acting attorney general rosen refused to say last week whether he would name a special counsel. this was on the heels of his predecessor
bars found guilty in the death of daunte wright. we ll share what she said about the verdict. a new variant could be causing more chaos than joy this holiday season. plus, we re live across europe where omicron is breaking records, and experts warn things will only get worse. announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with kim brunhuber. well, less than a day away from christmas and the omicron variant is throwing a last-minute wrench into some holiday travel plans. delta and united airlines have canceled hundreds of flights scheduled for today. delta scrapped 150 and according to the tracking site flight aware, and united more than 160. united said in a statement that the omicron-fueled case surge is hitting flight crews and ground operations, and it s not just happening in the u.s. dozens of flights have also been canceled in australia. but u.s. authorities are preparing for a crush of air travelers, warning numbers over the next ten days will rival p
alaska airlines canceled some flights as well. there s been disagreement in the industry on how to handle this new pandemic surge as air travel rebounds to pre-pandemic levels. cnn s pete muntean has the latest from regan national airport. reporter: christine, paula, things are getting busier by the moment here at regan national airport. some of the numbers we have seen are already higher than where they were back in 2019 before the pandemic. the tsa screened 2.08 million people at airports across the country on wednesday. that number actually higher than the same day back in 2019, 1.84 screened back then two years ago. just a bit of context here, though. that same wednesday two years ago, that was christmas day itself when passenger loads are low, but even still we have seen numbers at or near 2 luis palomino per d 2 million per day. there are long lines to get tested for coronavirus. this one at b.w.i. thurgood marshall airport, there was a line for testing either earth b
vaccination, which i disagree with. i think for part of caring from one another, the dictum of jesus is love one another, show compassion, show mercy to each other, sending the message is that if we want to act like jesus in these kind of times, we take care of each other. if we gather in celebration, we have to do so safely, comfortably, and we have to give to one another that gift of peace. and part of that is health. and feeling like we re gathering in a healthy environment. and so i really hope as people gather in celebration, to celebrate the birth of christ, who was about mercy, and compassion, and love of one another, that we keep that in mind. it is not about us. i don t think there is a reason to say i m not going to get vaccinated today, you know, maybe a health reason, but then you can t come to church. you have a responsibility to one another. father edward beck, rabbi ann brener, thank you for joining us this morning. thank you, both. thank you. and new
they didn t expect this variant to come around. so they have a lot more people than normal calling out sick who are testing positive and then who have to stay in isolation for ten days. reporter: airline workers who have been vaccinated and have breakthrough covid infections now have to quarantine for ten days from the onset of symptoms following cdc guidelines. the airline industry has asked the cdc to cut that time in half. while some medical experts think that s a good idea, others say it s dangerous. i understand where it s coming from given the pressures on the industry but i don t think it s the right move. the surge of cases is already bad enough. we don t need to make it worse by lowering that isolation protocol number. reporter: even with the omicron surge there s a huge spike in airline travel. i m going to california. i m nervous. i don t know if it s the best decision to make but i haven t seen my family in two years. reporter: the latest covid surge c